2 Weeks of Google Alerts

" Facebook has become an online

home to many people of all ages "(Source).

• On my Google Alerts, John Greenlaw's Blog came up with a post about the biggest challenge with IR and social media. (Source) After disclosing and posting information, it is available to billions of people. What is said about your company should be monitored and IR should build a positive image to promote their company. However, online freedom allows IR practitioners to damage control, but ultimately they cannot control information or opinions shared by others outside of the organization.
• A blog about Corporate Reporting to Stakeholders wrote about Investor Relations and Social Media Usage. In September 2009, IR Alert conducted a survey of IR professionals and their usage of social media.
  Results: 270 participants, 60% of industry uses social media in some way (especially smaller firms). Only 12% of IR & CFO said they use social media to disclosure financial information to shareholders & the market. Conference Calls & Press Releases are used to communicate information to shareholders & the market; 6.3% use corporate blog. Twitter is the most used social network and LinkedIn is growing.(Source)* I would be interested to see if the study was conducted again if the results would differ; especially with the introduction of Google Buzz. The study was done 6 months ago and popularity of social media sites is still growing.
• Managing Shareholder Engagement on Facebook. Public companies use Facebook to communicate with shareholders release company or industry news, and provide useful links. Mike and Trina Elliot from NETGENPR shared their social media strategy. In their Discussion Board section of their Facebook page they have a topic "Removed Posts Board" where the posts from the wall are archived and explained why they were inappropriate and hence removed. Mike emphasized that using social media is more than sending out random posts, but the purpose must also match business objectives. He also stressed you must be diplomatic and monitor social media in order to build your company's image and work towards achieving company objectives. Terms and Conditions should also be published so fans know posts violating guidelines will be removed. This was an area I had never thought of; you would assume posts would simply be removed and not posted elsewhere and explained.
• A forum relating to tips on IR and social media. A tip posted was social media gives investors the chance to reach a greater audience on sites where they are already looking for info, and costing your company less. An authoritative voice should be used such sites
• Web Marketing Secrets of a Successful Internet Business Finally Revealed: This article gave tips to businesses about advantages/disadvantages of Pay Per Click advertising, Web 2.0 Marketing, offline advertising, and fax/email broadcasting.
• Social Media: Brand Breaking & Brand Breaking: Regarding social media, the author highlighted important tips for the CEO, CFO, COO, and CMO. When good/bad news happens - get facts & talking points released FAST; have a what-if strategy incase something does happens; make sure legal team understands social media; person in charge of social media should be tech and business savvy; social media strategy should be on the same lines as media strategy; monitor!; and quality will filter out noise on the internet.
• Thoughts about Social Media Marketing eMarketer predicted the future of social media, "As social media becomes truly integrated into all marketing efforts, the strongest business models in the future will incorporate analytics, the TV, in addition, will become more social as will search. Location will become more important to social media, and brand monitoring will increase in sophistication so that companies can begin to understand the "why" of consumer chatter as well as the who, what and when." Social media gives little companies a chance to compete through exposure against major companies.
• PR Firms Survive Difficult Year: During tough economic times, the PR budget is the 1st one cut or maybe even eliminated, which ultimately can harm market share and brand recognition. This also gives an advantage to competitors who don't downsize their PR staff.
• Facebook Founder Wont Rush IPO: Zuckerberg said the company will go public EVENTUALLY because of their promise to investors and employees, but there is no rush to do so. Facebook does not require cash to build factories or for marketing efforts. Zuckerberg said they don't need the capital and the pressures are different. Rejected offers include Yahoo for $1billion and Microsoft for $8billion.
• Microsoft to Pull Facebook & Myspace into Outlook: This add-on software will be called Outlook Social Connector. Users can read emails, and the pane fills with recent social media activities like Facebook status updates and professional contacts on LinkedIn. This software will allow senders and receivers jointly working on a document on the company's server to receive updates if one has made edits. The LinkedIn plug-in is already available, but Facebook and Myspace won't be available until June when Office 2010 is released. A concern is that this will make employees less productive because of the accessibility. Office's VP Will Kennedy said, "We don't want this to sort of be the next great time waster in the workplace."
• I read a NY Times article about a Blogging Bootcamp for Moms, where during the conference participants were told they were permitted to tweet. (Source) Normally, you are advised to turn off cell phones during business conferences, so it is neat to see tweeting actually recommended.